Straight from the
November/December 2018
PIPES
First, Let Me Say He’s Not a Rat I’m asked a variety of questions on a daily basis: “What’s up with the giant rat?”
Now, when I was trying to come up with a tagline to go with our company’s name, I decided that making things rhyme would be the best way to help people remember us. We decided to go with a water animal, an otter, which sounds like “oughta” and rhymes with water. And so we came up with our slogan: “Do what you otter, call Clearwater.” From that point on, our mascot was an otter. Also, just as a fun little side note, most people don’t know this, but the otter on the truck is me. When we decided to go with the otter, I had someone take an otter head and put it over my head — our mascot is me with an otter head. I know there are a lot of people out there in teams or other companies who have named their mascots, but I haven’t thought of one for our otter. We’ve had a few names float around the office, but everyone just calls him the “Otter Man.” However, I’m open to suggestions! If any of my readers think of a great name, you can reach out to us and suggest something — there might be something in it for you too.
Our teacher gave us a saying to help us remember, “You oughta add acid to water.” Now as much as all the teenagers in the class wanted to see something explode, we also didn’t want to get into trouble, so this saying really stuck with us. Since that class, I’ve never forgotten it. Weird that our brains can remember the oddest things.
“Why do you have a weasel on your truck?” “Might you have a ferret on your truck?” Well, those are great questions, and all good animals — with the exception of the rat. I don’t really care for rats. My company started out with the name Clearwater Plumbers, but we didn’t have the catchy phrase that we do now. When we were first trying to come up with a tagline, we wanted it to go along with our name, something that would make us easier to remember. One didn’t occur to me for a while until I remembered a lesson I learned in high school chemistry. When I was in high school, I was in an honors chemistry class where we conducted experiments with
the different chemicals the teachers let us use. One of the things we were taught was to be careful when adding acid to water. If you add water to acid, the acid will react with the water drops immediately, potentially causing a rapid
In the meantime, remember, “Do what you OTTER, call Clearwater.”
splashing boil of acid. Instead, you need to add acid to the water very slowly, and that helps keep things from getting out of control.
-Jeff Longspaugh
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ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
Coffee and Its Relationship to Your Health What’s the first thing you do in the morning? For most of us in the United States, it’s one spread around the Arabian Peninsula, and cafes began to pop up, known as “Schools of the Wise” for the intellectual conversations that happened there.
evidence, caffeine intake may be linked to reduced risk for certain diseases in healthy adults. Scientists think that antioxidants found in coffee, such as polyphenols, might contribute to its positive effects. There’s one major caveat, however. While coffee shows potential benefits when consumed in moderate amounts, the sugar and other additives that many of us like to put in it get a thumbs-down. The Dietary Guidelines also note that health alone isn’t a reason to start drinking caffeine. Folks with blood pressure concerns should be especially careful and should consult their doctor about how much coffee is okay to drink, as studies have shown evidence of increased blood pressure with caffeine consumption.
crucial task: getting that morning cup of joe. Our obsession with coffee is nothing new. A paper entitled “The Consumption of Coffee in the United States,” published July 18, 1861, noted that “the people of the United States habitually consume more coffee than the inhabitants of any other country.” Its popularity has only increased with time; people in the U.S. consume an estimated 400 million cups of coffee a day. Of course, we weren’t the first to find out how great coffee is. Long before anyone in the Americas enjoyed the beverage, legend has it that an Ethiopian goat herder discovered the amazing effects of coffee beans — on his goats. He noticed that after eating “berries” from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic they didn’t want to sleep. News
In addition to coffee’s long-standing popularity, science has found several reasons to give our morning habit the thumbs-up. In 2015, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines evaluated the effects of coffee and caffeine for the first time, concluding that coffee can be part of a healthy lifestyle “along with other behaviors, such as refraining from smoking, consuming a nutritionally balanced diet, maintaining a healthy body weight, and being physically active.” The guidelines cite “strong and consistent evidence” that consuming coffee within the moderate range (3–5 cups per day, or up to 400 mg of caffeine per day) is not associated with an increased risk of major diseases. In fact, according to observational
Everything in moderation, as the saying goes, at least when it comes to caffeine.
Jeff Longspaugh Answers the Question Do I Need a Water Softener?
purification system, in our kitchen, so our drinking water is as good as bottled water. The water we use to boil our vegetables, drink, and give to our animals is free of chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, and all of those bad chemicals and minerals. So was there a difference after we got the water softener? Let me tell you — we noticed it right off the bat. The first thing you notice is how your hair feels after you’ve finished shampooing it. All our hair is now silky smooth, and all our dishes are crystal clear. The science behind this is that the soft water doesn’t leave behind the minerals that the hard water does. Again, I’m a rough-and-tumble guy. I’m proud of blisters and splinters — not too far from a caveman in many respects. However, I do like my soft water, and I’m certainly shocked that I could know so much about the makeup of water and the distribution of water but never have understood the many benefits of soft water until using it.
Well, I don’t know, do you? Nobody really needs anything besides food, water, and shelter, but let me tell you my story about water softeners.
I’m a rough-and-tumble guy. I pride myself on not needing much of anything. One time, I went down to the Yukon River for 10 days in a canoe with nothing but a blue tarp and a sleeping bag, drinking water out of a peach can. Because I grew up with a couple of brothers, running around like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, the trip was perfect. Fast forward 25 years later. Now I’m the only guy in the house. I have my wife and three daughters, who are in sixth, fifth, and fourth grade. I didn’t think that water softness would make much of a difference, but it did. I’m a master plumber and a Texas water treatment specialist. In other words, I understand water hardness. I get what’s in my water, but then I ask myself, “Jeff, how can you tell somebody they need a water softener when you don’t even have one?”
Visit our Facebook page or website to watch a video of an installation.
So I got one. We installed a custom carbon filter and water softener to see if it made a difference. We’ve always had reverse osmosis, a water
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ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
5 Reasons Why Soft Water Is Better Than Hard Water The EPA and USGS tell us that our water is hard here in the Fort Worth area and beyond. I pride myself on being hard. But I also like to live healthy and take care of the four wonderful ladies sharing my house.
Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients
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1/2 cup dark brown sugar
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5 pounds sweet potatoes 1 cup canned coconut milk
Here are the top five things that astonished me by fixing our hard Fort Worth TAP water.
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4 tablespoons unsalted butter
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1. Silky and natural hair with no product
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1 tablespoon kosher salt
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Directions 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
2. No longer need any lotion
3. Whites are whiter and don’t need fabric softener
1. Heat oven to 375 F. On a large sheet pan, bake potatoes until very soft, approximately 75 minutes. 2. Let potatoes cool until they are safe to handle, then peel and mash. 3. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine coconut milk and curry paste. Once mixed, add the mixture, salt, half the sugar, and half the butter to potatoes. 4. 30 minutes before serving, heat oven to 425 F. Spread potatoes in a baking dish, cover with foil, and bake for 20 minutes. 5. Uncover potatoes and dot with remaining butter and sugar. Broil until brown, crusty, and delicious. Serve hot. SUDOKU Inspired by The New York Times
4. Soap suds action is three times greater with soft water
5. Glassware out of the dishwasher is crystal clear. (I have a $2 butter dish that looks like it should be in a jewelry case.)
For return customers, we are happy to send a water conditioning specialist out for FREE to see if you could benefit from adjusting the makeup of your water. You may be pleasantly surprised like I was by how much better it is to have soft water.
Do what you OTTER ... call Clearwater 817-296-0670
The Clearwater Softwater Girls and the Caveman
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ClearWater Plumbers | 817-296-0670 | clearwaterplumber.com
6954 Boat Club Rd. Fort Worth, TX, 76179 817-296-0670
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ClearWater Plumbers
Answer
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What Is up With the Giant Rat?
A Closer Look at Your Cup of Joe
Water Softeners Make a Huge Difference
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Tips and Tricks
Spicy, Creamy Sweet Potatoes
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Let Kids Play a Role This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Prep for the Whole Family
Have a ‘Roller Derby’ Finally. While an adult should be the one to put these delicious baked goods in the oven, the whole family can help shape the dough. In fact, Care.com recommends making this a contest. Set aside a time when everyone can vie for the title of Fastest Roll Maker, and you’ll have plenty of warm, flaky, delicious treats come dinnertime. Letting everyone play a part may take a little more planning and add slightly more chaos to your Thanksgiving preparations. But it’s sure to produce a lot of great memories and bonding moments among your loved ones. And by the time you sit down to eat, you’ll all have something to be thankful for right in front of you — Those. Delicious. Rolls.
setting the table. Teens and young adults can supervise their younger siblings and cousins in these important tasks and may be called upon to stir what’s on the stove while an adult checks on the football game. Roll Out the Decorations Still not talking about bread. Not everything in Thanksgiving preparation needs to be tied to the kitchen. Creative family members of all ages can work together to bring some seasonal flare to the dining room. Maybe this means picking up some Thanksgiving coloring books, or perhaps the family can venture outdoors to collect autumn trimmings for crafts. It’s a great way to let each family member put their own personal spin on the holiday!
Thanksgiving is more than just a feast; it’s about coming together as a family and being thankful for one another. So why wait to get into the spirit until everyone is seated at the table? Here are a few ways you can make the actual preparation of Thanksgiving dinner fun and engaging for the whole family! Give Everyone a Role No, not those rolls — yet. Making the feast a family project can turn the day from a hectic list of chores into a magical bonding experience. It’s important to match each family member to a job that best fits their abilities. Young children can mash potatoes or rinse ingredients in the sink. Older kids can take on more responsibility, like measuring ingredients, keeping an eye on timers, and
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